Light scattering techniques provide powerful methods to investigate a variety of different materials properties. Brillouin scattering is used to the study the elastic properties of bulk solids and thin supported films at ambient and high temperatures. Work on iron pyrite and tungsten carbide films are described as illustrations with theoretical methods using surface Green’s functions being used in the analysis. Raman scattering is used to study corrosion and passivation of iron in an alkaline solution and stress patterns in diamond plastically deformed at high temperature.